Ultraviolet Laser Technology and Applications

Elliott

Chapter 1

Ultraviolet Light

Publisher Summary

Ultraviolet (UV) light has become important as the various technologies that are necessary to provide practical UV laser imaging and beam delivery systems have progressed, especially the light sources. UV light has been available only from low power lamps, thereby restricting the usefulness of the technology. The discovery and development of the excimer laser made possible the availability of intense ultraviolet light. Researchers explored and uncovered the unique properties of this new light source. As various phenomena involving UV energy and material interactions were discovered and optimized, practical applications emerged. This chapter discusses the UV spectrum, early UV lamp sources, laser physics and operating principles, and development leading to the discovery of the UV laser. UV light is available from a variety of sources, including naturally occurring UV light, UV lamps, and UV lasers. UV light from the sun is abundant, but cannot be easily or economically harnessed for the applications that have practical value. To a lesser degree, UV lamps have the same problem: they supply rich amounts of the ultraviolet wavelengths, but by the time the energy is collected and transmitted through an optical system, little energy is left to meet the demands of most commercial applications.

1.1 Introduction

Ultraviolet light has become more important in recent years as the various technologies necessary to provide practical UV laser imaging and beam delivery systems have progressed, especially the light sources. Historically, UV light has been available only from relatively low power lamps, thereby restricting the usefulness of the technology. The discovery and development of the excimer laser in the 1980s made possible, for the first time, the availability of intense ultraviolet light. Researchers explored and uncovered the unique properties of this new light source. As various phenomena involving UV energy and material interactions were discovered and optimized, practical applications emerged. In this chapter, we discuss the UV spectrum, early UV lamp sources, laser physics and operating principles, and development leading to the discovery of the UV laser.

1.2 The Ultraviolet Spectrum

The ultraviolet is a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, yet within its boundaries there are three distinct regions (near, mid, and far UV), each with particular significance in terms of applications and properties. Ultraviolet light is roughly defined as that portion (400- to 100-nm wavelengths) of the electromagnetic spectrum between longer wavelength visible light (400–700 nm) and shorter wavelength x-ray (10–100 nm) energy. Figure 1.1 shows the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrums, indicating the various emission lines (1).

Figure 1.1 Laser Spectrum

1.2.1 Far or Vacuum UV

The shortest wavelength portion of the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum is the far UV or vacuum UV (VUV), which is roughly the region from 100 to 200 nm. At these very shortest of the UV wavelengths, air becomes opaque, requiring that experiments be performed in a vacuum (or inert gas) so that the air does not absorb all the UV light. In commercial UV optical delivery systems, far or vacuum UV wavelengths must be contained in inert gas (argon, nitrogen) -purged beam containment tubes. If this is not provided, considerable energy losses will occur from air molecules absorbing the UV photons.

1.2.2 Deep-UV

The deep-UV portion of the ultraviolet spectrum is the region from approximately 180 to 280 nm, so-called because it is the deepest area of the ultraviolet where practical UV imaging is routinely done. It is also the deepest part of the UV spectrum where work can be done at atmosphere without side efforts.

1.2.3 Mid-UV

The mid-UV is the region of the ultraviolet spectrum from 280 to 315 nm, so-called because it is midway between deep-UV and near-UV.

1.2.4 Near-UV

The near-UV is the region from 315 to 400 nm, so-called because it is nearest to the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

1.3 Historical Development of the Laser

Before UV lasers, there were long wavelength, red lasers. In this section, we will discuss the origins of the UV laser back to the initial concepts of amplification of wave energy. The origins of the laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) are traced back to the early 1900s when Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Max Plank, and Ernest Rutherford were developing theories about the nature and behavior of matter.

Rutherford formed the idea of the atom composed of a nucleus with orbiting electrons. The electron orbits occurred at various energy levels. Plank developed the idea of electromagnetic waves as the form taken by radiant energy, and further specified that each frequency had a fixed quantum or amount of energy.

Niels Bohr described the phenomenon of fluorescence or spontaneous emission. This occurs when an atomic electron drops from a high energy level to an unoccupied lower energy level. When this happens, a quantum of light is emitted spontaneously.

Einstein theorized that other forms of emission were possible and formulated the idea of stimulated emission. Einstein predicted that when energy was applied to atoms, the response would be emission of energy.

These scientific theories remained to be proven in the lab, and during World War II, another step was taken to identify what became known as lasing action or lasers. High frequency radiowave and microwave oscillators were developed that could generate electromagnetic waves of very high frequencies and short wavelengths. The RADAR (Radio Detection And Ranging) was a useful result of this work. The Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation (MASER) was also developed before the laser and proved the theory of population inversion.

An analogy of how light behaves in a laser can be taken from how sound behaves in an amplifier. If a loudspeaker is placed too close to a microphone, the sound from the speaker is reamplified through the microphone and produces a howl. The howl is caused by sound waves, placed at closely spaced intervals, reinforcing each other by being in phase. At a certain level, an oscillation begins which produces the howl (3). In the following section, we will explain how this same principle works with light to produce a laser beam.

1.4 How a Laser Works

Lasers are possible because of the way light interacts with atoms and mole cules. To describe how a laser works, we will first review some basic aspects of light/matter interaction. The electrons in an atom or molecule exist in very specific energy levels, called states. Each atom possesses electrons that are characteristic to the specific element, or combination of elements (molecules) represented.

1.4.1 Energy State Transitions

When an electron moves from one state to a lower energy level, or state, the atom gives up the excess energy as a photon of electromagnetic radiation (either light or x-rays). The amount of energy carried away equals the difference in the energy between the original higher state and the new lower state. In molecules, where these movements (transitions) between states involve motions of entire atoms rather than single electrons, the same phenomenon generally produces lower-energy photons (infrared light).

1.4.2 High and Low Energy Photons

The energy carried by a photon is determined by how rapidly the light waves in it oscillate, and this oscillation is measured either as the frequency (number of oscillations per second) or wavelength (distance that the waves move during one oscillation). Wavelength and frequency are related to each other by the speed at which the photons (waves) move—the speed of light. The energy of a photon (or, equivalently, the frequency or wavelength) determines its color. Blue light photons have more energy-a higher frequency and a shorter wavelength-than red light photons.

1.4.3 Spontaneous Emission

An electron in a particular state can also absorb a photon that has an energy equal to the difference between that state and a higher one. As a result, it can jump to the higher one (called an excited state), where it stays for a period of time before giving up energy by radiating a photon of the same or different energy, and returning to some lower state. This time is called its lifetime for spontaneous emission. Spontaneous lifetimes vary enormously, but are typically between a thousandth and a billionth of a second for levels of interest in common lasers. A spontaneously emitted photon can come out in any direction with equal probability.

1.4.4 Stimulated Emission

When Einstein recognized the principle of spontaneous emission, he showed that since a lower state electron in an atom can absorb a photon of the proper energy and go to a higher state, then one already in that higher state must have an equal probability of emitting a photon and dropping to the lower state when a matching photon comes past it. The process of creating emission by outside stimulation (as opposed to it occurring spontaneously) is called stimulated emission. Further, this emitted photon must travel in exactly the same direction and with exactly the same energy as the photon that stimulated its emission (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 Schematic of the Principle of Stimulated Emission

1.4.5 Amplification

Therefore, if a large number of matching-energy photons comes past an electron in an excited state, there is a high probability that this process occurs so that its lifetime for stimulated emission can be much less than its spontaneous lifetime. Stimulated emission was reduced to practice when Charles Townes and others saw how to amplify (add photons to) a weak beam of light, with the addition consisting of photons that match the transition between energy states in some atom or molecule. This amplification is the critical process that makes a laser possible.

In designing a laser, the first major challenge is to devise some scheme in which a rather large number of excited atoms or molecules collect in an upper energy state. This alone, however, does not guarantee lasing action. Under most circumstances, electrons excited by an external energy source come to a normal condition called thermal equilibrium. In the absence of any outside influence, the electrons in an atom or molecule will fill up the lowest of the many allowed energy states. If some outside source does supply energy (for example, photons with matching transitions or high-energy electrons that force others into a higher energy level), then some electrons will jump into higher energy states and drop from level to level until they reach the lowest unoccupied energy state, emitting a photon for every transition, and ending up in the normal condition. This means that in a population of atoms in the normal condition, there are always fewer electrons at high energy than at low energy.

1.4.6 Population Inversion

Because there are more atoms with electrons in the lower energy state of a transition, the absorption of photons by the electrons in the lower state is always greater than the stimulated emission of photons due to electrons in the upper state and there is always a net absorption (loss) of photons (1).

Therefore, the second major challenge in designing a laser is finding a way of decreasing the population of the lower energy state of a transition while maintaining the population of electrons in the higher state. This is called a population inversion since it is the inverse of what one would usually expect for a medium. A population inversion will result in little or no absorption of matching photons but with a large amount of stimulated emission from a higher state.

Researchers analyzing different materials have found thousands of transitions where it is possible to achieve some degree of population inversion, but there are relatively few that give inversions both easily and efficiently. Lasers in practical applications are usually selected from this latter category.

1.4.7 The Gain Medium

The first property that most people associate with a laser is its highly directional beam that does not spread as it propagates, but it is important to note that this is not necessarily so. The material in which the population inversion was created, called the laser gain medium, will amplify photons moving in any direction. If we allow photons to go in any direction, the directionality (beam quality) of the laser will be no better than any other light source. The high directionality of the laser does not come from the laser medium itself, but from another critical component, the laser resonator or cavity.

A simple laser resonator has two flat mirrors facing each other at each end of the laser gain medium and an aperture that restricts the diameter in which photons can propagate. Suppose an atom in the laser medium spontaneously emits a photon travelling at a wide angle to the resonator axis. The principle of the gain medium in a UV laser is illustrated in Figure 1.3. This photon bounces between the mirrors and may make some trips through the laser medium, but eventually it will walk out of the resonator, then both the original photon and the few additional photons whose emission it may have stimulated from the atoms in the laser medium will be lost.

Figure 1.3 Principle of a Laser Resonator

Suppose, however, that an atom spontaneously emits a photon that travels exactly perpendicular to the two mirrors. This photon and the additional ones produced by stimulated emission never walk out of the resonator, they just bounce straight back and forth. A very intense beam of photons moving exactly perpendicular to the two mirrors builds up by the stimulated emission process and each pass through the gain medium. If we let some of this light out of the resonator, usually by making one of the mirrors slightly transparent, a laser beam emerges that has very high directionality or beam quality and a precise color determined by the atoms or molecules used for the gain medium.

Therefore, to obtain a highly directional output beam from the laser, the laser designer chooses a laser resonator with a low gain per pass (so that many passes are required to build up to a reasonable intensity) and a small-diameter aperture. However, under these conditions, it is difficult to get very high output power from the laser. Therefore, very large lasers often use a small, low-power laser oscillator to establish a beam with good quality. They then amplify the weak beam by passing it through a large, high-gain amplifier containing the same laser medium. Large laser systems for inertial fusion and laser isotope separation use this so-called master-oscillator/power amplifier architecture.

1.4.8 Summary

In summary, for laser operation, three basic conditions must be met. First, there must be a suitable energy source to excite atoms, molecules, or ions of the active medium to a higher energy level. When they drop back to lower energy levels, photons of energy are emitted.

Second, there must be an active medium (of atoms, molecules, or ions) that will emit photons when stimulated. Third, there must be some form of optical feedback, or gain, generally provided by mirrors in the laser’s optical cavity. This produces resonance.

The energy source can be provided from an electric current, a lamp, or by a chemical reaction. The material that emits laser radiation can be a gas medium, a liquid, or a solid, such as a semiconductor. These materials range from semitransparent crystals and glass to gases, vapors, and liquid held in a transparent vessel or circulated or sprayed into the laser cavity. The reflecting mirrors at both ends of the cavity which hold the active medium allow the optical radiation to resonate back and forth.

The energy source pumps or excites the active medium to a higher than normal energy state. High energy states are short-lived. Laser action begins when there is a greater amount of active medium at a higher energy state than at a lower state. This is called population inversion. When some of the high-energy electrons fall back to normal levels, photons of light are released that stimulate the release of more photons in an increasing cascade, which is being reflected back and forth between the mirrors. When there is sufficient feedback in the optical resonating system, oscillation occurs and the medium begins to lase.

A laser beam can generally be effective only when it leaves the cavity. The laser beam cannot escape if both mirrors are 100% reflective. Further, no lasing can occur if either mirror is not reflective enough. In order to allow some of this energy to leave the cavity (to form a useful beam), a mirror that is not totally reflective must be installed at one end. This mirror is known as the output coupler or transmitter. The optimum ratio of transmitted versus intracavity energy is not constant for all lasers, though in every case most of the optical energy must remain within the optical cavity to sustain laser oscillation.

These basic principles apply to lasers of all wavelengths, from far infrared through deep ultraviolet and into x-rays. We will now focus on the ultraviolet light in general, beginning with lamps and leading into lasers that emit various amounts of UV